Poco: Pickin' Up More Pieces

Poco are the special secret shared by those who used to devour ‘Dark Star’ and early ‘ZigZag’. A band with all the right Country-Rock credentials – founder Ritchie Furay was formerly the guy-inbetween Stills & Young in the mighty Buffalo Springfield, plus the bassist Jim Messina (later of Loggins &) and session-pedal steel protégé Rusty Young from the Buffs ‘Last Time Around’ (July 1968) finale. Massive in the States across some twenty low-charting albums and thirteen singles, they rarely took the trouble to tour Europe or play ‘Whispering Bob’s’ ‘OGWT’, and hence never achieved a commercial ripple over here. Unlike – say, the Eagles.

This nicely-packaged double-CD collects their first two complete vinyl 12”ers from mid-1969 and June 1970 respectively, pretty much confirming what we remember. Light, pleasant Beatles/Byrds harmonies picked out over Rusty’s sweetly sighing dobro. A soft touch of strings or surging horns (“Tomorrow”). Nothing too musically or lyrically heavy. Up-gearing into the mildly fuzz-tone Rock of “Short Changed”, before easing back into sprightly hoedown instrumental mode (“Grand Junction”). The second disc includes the catchy CSN-ish hit single “You Better Think Twice”, allied to the yearning Country heartbreak-schmaltz of “Honky Tonk Downstairs”, through to the extended (15:47 min) Latin percussion work-out “El Tonto De Nadie, Regresa”. I’d always assumed the band were named for the juvie Cowboy novel-exploits of ‘Pocomoto’ which I used to read at school. Apparently not. Apply within. But the sunshine honey-coated nostalgia vibe to their ‘sittin pickin and a-grinnin’ is real. But then of, course, these sides arrived some time before their fondly remembered ‘Rose Of Cimarron’, and even longer since he became the Reverend Ritchie Furay…

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